Monday, October 14, 2013

Fall Soccer 2013

From youngest to oldest the story will be told...

Haley girl, she was a toughy. She stuck through it all and she was an awesome little sister this season. She went to every practice and every game. Whether there was rain, ice or wind, she was there with mom, most of the time right in my face. Three schedules was kind of tough for the girl, she got tired and a bit bored, but she was there for her brothers; even if sometimes she would have rather been at the playground.

This was William's first season playing soccer with an organized team. Sure, he has gotten plenty of practice with his brothers, but this was his year to get his very own jersey, coach, soccer schedule; the whole deal. He had a great time! True, it was hard for mom to go back to watching jumble/huddle ball, but it was fun to watch the little man play. There were games where he was not that into it, more slow and easy was the pace then. But there were games where he got in there, scored points, moved the ball down the (very small) field, and used the leg.

A very happy William with his own trophy, another soccer star.

Look at that face on Peter! He was into it this year. As his coach told me (this is not just mom talking) he was one of the four main players on the team that helped them win, consistently. Wahoo!

He really found a place in defense.

Funny and kind of lame story from the beginning of the season. So, with three boys in soccer comes three schedules and some juggling. First game of the season I thought I had things covered. All the games were nicely written in my calendar, William's game was up first then Peter's right after. We went to William's game, cheered him on, and then I looked at the clock and saw that it was time for Peter's team to warm up. I called him over and sent him to the field. Then disaster struck! We both saw his team playing! What? How could that be? OH, coach informed me that the game started at 5:30pm, not the 6:30pm I had written down. Soccer Mom FAILURE!!! First game of the season and my son only plays for the last 5 minutes of the game. I told Peter that I was so sorry, I told coach that I was so sorry and that it would not happen again. Then I told Peter that I was sorry again. The matter of fact boy that he is said, "It's okay mom." Then, seriously 3 seconds later, he said, "Actually, it's not okay." Knife to the heart and call me crushed! I did find out later, to my benefit, that the rec league had changed the schedule times after posting them to the web and I had written down the original time and then they changed it. So, I am not such a dork, just a loser.

But we did not miss another game. We showed up early for every other one. Peter used that leg a lot in clearing it out of the box so that the other team could not score. But he was also able to help out front and even scored a goal! Yeah Peter!

Look at the size of that goal that Caleb was in charge of this year. Whew! And those clouds, there was many a game that had cold, windy bad weather. Caleb was moved up to the big leagues this year. Bigger field, bigger goal, and of course a bigger heart was also needed. This was a more challenging year by far. Last year his skills were not really tested because his team had such a strong offense. But this year, with the bigger goal and field, he saw a lot more action. Not all of the balls were stopped. Not all of the games ended on a happy note. But this boy played big. In heart and body.

He got his knees and jersey dirty by diving, he even injured his thumb one time. He got yelled at by his mom to do better, try more, keep positive, stay focused, you are awesome. He heard it all from me.

And he really did make some awesome saves. There was one game that I swear he make 15-20 saves against a great team. There were other games where the team was down and it was a mental game rather than physical, and Caleb stayed in there and gave it his all. This was said by his coach, "lots of kids ask me if they can have a shot at goal but when it comes down to it, Caleb is the one that wants to practice at goalie and that is why he is there." Another coach quote, "Caleb is one of the better goalies at his age level. Still a lot to learn, but we definitely want to see him come back." Now that may be a coach sugar coating it to make a kid and mom feel good inside, but we will take it. Caleb will need new goalie gloves and cleats next year, but he is already talking about practicing in front of that big goal again. Soccer is awesome, and so are my boys!